Gardener finds decomposed body of missing teen in Texas field

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HOUSTON, Texas — The body of a girl found Wednesday afternoon in a field not far from a Texas freeway has been identified as Adriana Coronado, police in Houston say.

Adriana, 13, had been the subject of an Amber Alert after her father was found dead Sunday.

A news release from police said the body was found on a road not far from the Sam Houston Parkway. According to CNN affiliate KTRK, Adriana’s body was found by a gardener.

The body’s state of decomposition made it difficult to identify Adriana. She was identified through fingerprints by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.

Adriana was last seen Saturday in the Houston suburb of Katy. Police were investigating the death of her father, whose burned body was found more than 60 miles north of Katy on Sunday, when they learned she was missing.

Caesar Vladimir Coronado’s burned body was found in Walker County and his pickup was found in Montgomery County, just to the south.

Walker County Sheriff Clint McRae said Thursday that police want to find a man seen in a surveillance video running from the burning pickup in an industrial park in Conroe.

The video shows a Ford F-150 driving through the shot until it is parked just off camera. Then there appears to be a small explosion as a man runs away. In another video that McRae released, the man jogs down a nearby alley and into a parking lot.

McRae told reporters that investigators think speaking to the man in the videos will be “crucial in solving this case.”

He said investigators need to find and interview the man in the video. Finding him could be difficult given the darkness of the video (it was taken around 10:20 p.m.) and the fact that there is no clear shot of the man’s face.

“It’s going to take an individual who is familiar with and knows this potential suspect” to identify him through his manner of walking, his clothing and his profile, McRae said. Authorities believe the man is Hispanic, he added.